Records and celebrates the presence and achievements of queer sexuality throughout human culture and history, and even in the animal knigdom

Wednesday, 5 October 2011

Renée Richards, Trans Tennis Player, on ESPN

As the documentary 'Renée' comes to ESPN, its subject, famous for her legal battle to play as a woman in the U.S. Open, is busy practicing ophthalmology."

Renée Richards would prefer you didn't call her an activist.

Thirty-five years ago, Richards became an unofficial spokeswoman for the transgender movement when her legal battle to play as a woman in the U.S. Open garnered headlines across the globe. After nearly three decades of relative obscurity, Richards is now the subject of "Renée," a documentary premiering Tuesday on ESPN.

When filmmaker Eric Drath initially approached Richards about the possibility of making a film about her life, she was reluctant. "She didn't want to be the spokesperson for the transgendered world," Drath explained. "She doesn't want to be known as the 'T' in LGBT."

Now 77, Richards maintains a busy ophthalmology practice with offices in Manhattan and Westchester County, N.Y.